Tuesday, February 9, 2010
"Alive" by Joy Harjo
"Sometimes I am afraid of the sound of soundlessness" makes me think that the author is holding herself back. Shes afraid. I think the poem is about escaping life in general. Especially the 6th stanza, "I tried every escape...". The author tried different ways of escaping everyday life even resulting to drinking. Nothing worked until she just stopped and really looked at what was around her. Once she realized that life is great she opened up and finally felt free.
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I think this is a really interesting way to interpret this poem. I hadn't thought about it that way when I first read through it! When I read it, though, I thought she was talking about finding herself by traveling away from the life she knew. She describes her former self as a "field of talking blood" that she hadn't been able to reach yet and refers to her former self as "she" as if she is now a completely different person. It's not until she's seeing what's around her, listening to the music of the interstate that she feels alive.
ReplyDeleteWhat could she have been driving away from that kept her from being free?